Macomb County voters recognize Anthony Forlini as County Clerk since his victory over David Adams (D) in 2024. In September 2025, Forlini announced his candidacy for Michigan Secretary of State and secured the Republican nomination. In November he’ll run against several opponents, most notably Lieutenant Governor Garlin Gilchrist II (D).
However, Forlini has a history of promoting debunked conspiracy theories, refusing to accept the results of the 2020 US presidential election, and inflating numbers of alleged voter fraud in Michigan.
The company Forlini keeps has raised alarm bells for his critics. Since 2022, he has employed at least two far-right activists associated with criminal organizations, including a January 6 insurrectionist, to recruit poll workers for Michigan elections.
Forlini has even expressed interest in allowing the Trump administration to take an active and present role in monitoring Michigan’s election process.
These implications could have long-lasting effects on free and fair election processes in Michigan.
Forlini’s election denialism doesn’t hold water
As early as fall 2021, comprehensive scientific journals like Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences published studies showing there was no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 US presidential election. Michigan’s Department of State conducted a review of 2024 ballots and found a total of only 16 noncitizen ballots were cast out of 5.7 million.
But in an interview with WOOD TV8’s Rick Albin in July, Forlini made reference to the conspiracy theories about the 2020 election.
“I just ask the question: Is what they’re saying true?” he said. “If we can’t prove some of these theories that were out there as untrue, then how do we prove the otherwise?”
In other words, ignoring studies that prove voter fraud conspiracies untrue, Forlini then asks how he can prove that they are true. He can’t, but that hasn’t stopped him trying.
Six months before his interview with Albin, Forlini claimed to have discovered 15 noncitizens on Macomb County voter rolls. The state’s Bureau of Elections investigated his claims and found that a maximum of four may be noncitizens, but preliminary investigations were inconclusive.
Questionable hiring practices cast doubt on Forlini
In October 2022, Forlini hired social media influencer Genevieve Peters—a January 6 rioter who urged insurrectionists to “storm the gates” of the Capitol Building—to recruit and train poll workers for future elections. Peters also attended a 2020 Lansing rally alongside the neo-fascist Proud Boys organization. The Proud Boys have a long history of political violence, including at the January 6 insurrection.
Peters also livestreamed a “Stop the Steal” rally contesting the results of the 2020 US presidential election outside the home of Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson. “We’re letting her know that we’re not taking this bullshit election,” Peters said at the time.
Forlini’s employment of an election denier to recruit poll workers for future elections has many concerned. One former election official, David Levine, told Politico that the hiring decision was “immensely problematic” unless Peters issued an apology for her behavior.
Peters isn’t the only Forlini hire raising eyebrows. Amy J. Hawkins, Forlini’s campaign spokesperson for his Secretary of State run, is a proud supporter of Unlock Michigan, a ballot initiative coalition and conservative political organization formed to oppose Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s COVID-19 lockdown mandates.
Perhaps more concerning, workers for Unlock Michigan were criminally charged and convicted of engaging in a “dark money scheme” for the organization that violated campaign finance law regarding political donor identities. Hawkins worked with them at the time the criminal enterprise was ongoing, though no legal ties were found between them.
Forlini supports Trump involvement in Michigan ballots
Grand Rapids-based WZZM 13, or “13 On Your Side,” interviewed Forlini in early July about his candidacy for Secretary of State. When asked if the state should coordinate with the Trump administration in conducting the midterm elections, Forlini said it should.
“I think there’s always a partnership,” he told reporters.
But what would that partnership look like?
The administration is seeking to obtain state voter rolls, including in Michigan, going so far as to sue states that don’t cooperate. It has lost 21 consecutive lawsuits to that effect.
The federal government has also proposed sending poll watchers to oversee future voting processes at Michigan polling places. Poll watchers are “on-the-ground representatives of the US House,” according to the Committee on House Administration Republicans.
In May, Trump told reporters he was willing to send Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers and National Guard troops to monitor polling sites. Such actions are illegal under federal law—specifically 18 US Code § 592, which states that anyone who deploys armed troops to polling places will be disqualified from holding office. Illegality aside, dispatching armed guards to polling places is widely considered an act of voter intimidation.
In February, Trump also said that the Republican party should “take over the voting” in many places around the country. Since he’s already claiming Michigan’s November election will be rigged, the Great Lakes State may be one of his targets.
Critics say Forlini’s false claims of widespread voter fraud, hiring of a January 6 rioter and election denier to help shape ballot counts, and welcoming of federal involvement in Michigan’s elections paint a clear picture of how he might behave as Secretary of State.
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